{"id":226172,"date":"2019-04-23T05:34:41","date_gmt":"2019-04-23T12:34:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/?post_type=wherenext&#038;p=226172"},"modified":"2025-12-12T08:43:20","modified_gmt":"2025-12-12T16:43:20","slug":"nexttech-climate-change","status":"publish","type":"wherenext","link":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/publications\/wherenext\/nexttech-climate-change","title":{"rendered":"NextTech: Smart Maps Show Executives the Impact of Climate Change"},"author":501,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"sync_status":"","episode_type":"","audio_file":"","castos_file_data":"","podmotor_file_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[455201,381312,411722],"tags":[303812,404762,26512,161212,483792],"department":[476792,488822],"wherenext-category":[],"industry":[],"class_list":["post-226172","wherenext","type-wherenext","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-a-climate-of-change","category-cxo-priorities","category-nexttech-features","tag-business-planning","tag-business-risk","tag-climate-change","tag-market-development","tag-nexttech","department-cxo-priorities","department-sustainability-risk"],"acf":{"short_description":"Decision-makers accustomed to making data-based decisions find climate change diffuse and unpredictable. A new smart map might change their view.","pdf":{"host_remotely":false,"file":"","file_url":""},"flexible_content":[{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"Business executives don\u2019t reach the C-suite by being indecisive. They rely on data and instinct to understand opportunities and executive savvy to make the right business decisions.\r\n\r\nBut how does an executive plan for a challenge as ominous and diffuse as climate change?"},{"acf_fc_layout":"sidebar","layout":"standard","image_reference":null,"image_reference_figure":"","spotlight_image":null,"section_title":"","spotlight_name":"","position":"Right","content":"<strong>Article Snapshot<\/strong>: Business leaders planning multimillion dollar investments struggle to account for the effects of climate change, but a new smart map helps them visualize the impacts in locations around the world, all the way to the year 2095.","snippet":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"As a Forrester researcher wrote in late 2018, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.forbes.com\/sites\/forrester\/2018\/10\/11\/climate-change-is-transforming-business\/#34e173672f47\">climate change will impact the world so profoundly<\/a> that every company will be forced to transform itself. Those that don\u2019t, he wrote, won\u2019t survive.\r\n\r\nFor every executive unnerved by that prognosis and unsure of where to begin, a new application of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/en-us\/location-intelligence\">location intelligence<\/a> and smart maps could be a much-needed resource.\r\n\r\n<strong>The Situation\u2014Intensifying Ill Effects <\/strong>\r\n\r\nNASA calls <a href=\"https:\/\/climate.nasa.gov\/resources\/global-warming\/\">climate change<\/a> a \u201cbroad range of global phenomena\u201d that includes warming temperatures, rising sea levels, and extreme weather events. The list reads like a business executive\u2019s dossier of unwelcome events: increased incidence of drought, more-devastating storms, resource scarcity, and flooding in cities worldwide. Scientists say <a href=\"https:\/\/www.latimes.com\/science\/sciencenow\/la-sci-sn-climate-change-report-20181008-story.html\">adverse effects will intensify<\/a> in the decades ahead unless governments and businesses take sustained action."},{"acf_fc_layout":"form","form_type":"aside","form_position":"Right","form_title":"THE ESRI BRIEF","form_desc":"A biweekly email connecting decision-makers with thought-provoking articles on location intelligence and critical technology trends.","form_button_label":"Sign up now","form_content":"https:\/\/go.pardot.com\/l\/82202\/2017-10-12\/jw1bmb","form_tag":"low-commitment-form\/sign-up-form"},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"The forecast weighs heavily on the minds of global business leaders, 46 percent of whom called <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pwc.com\/gx\/en\/sustainability\/ceo-views\/assets\/pwc-ceo-summary-sustainability.pdf\">climate change a megatrend<\/a> that will transform their businesses, according to a recent PwC CEO survey.\r\n\r\nSome big-name companies are already bracing for the effects. AT&amp;T, which maintains billions of dollars\u2019 worth of equipment worldwide, is <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bloomberg.com\/news\/articles\/2019-03-27\/at-t-beset-by-disaster-costs-turns-to-30-year-climate-modeling\">studying its infrastructure<\/a> to assess how to mitigate damage from intensifying storms and floods. IKEA, the largest user of wood in the world, is investing heavily in <a href=\"http:\/\/www.climateaction.org\/news\/ikea-invests-in-25000-acres-of-sustainable-forestry\">sustainable forestry practices<\/a>.\r\n\r\nThose forward-leaning multinationals are taking steps to ensure that their businesses will endure. But many global executives struggle to plan for climate change because they don\u2019t have the data or tools to grasp the problems they will face.\r\n\r\nAt the University of Hawaii, a team of scientists has published an app that may deliver much-needed clarity.\r\n\r\n<strong>NextTech\u2014Seeing the Geographic Impacts of Climate Change <\/strong>\r\n\r\n\u201cI consider this app a legacy to humanity,\u201d Dr. Camilo Mora told <em>WhereNext<\/em>. \u201cIt may sound exaggerated, but consider that we collected all data that is known about how climate change has impacted and will impact humanity, and it is available for any person in the world to review.\u201d\r\n\r\nDr. Mora and his team at the University of Hawaii started by using location intelligence to perform analysis and make predictions. The researchers assessed the occurrence of 11 natural phenomena connected to climate change\u2014warming, drought, heatwaves, fires, precipitation, floods, storms, water scarcity, sea level rise, changes in natural land cover, and changes in ocean chemistry.\r\n\r\nThe team then predicted the degree to which those hazards will worsen as a result of future greenhouse gas emissions. They modeled three scenarios\u2014one in which humans severely restrict emissions, another involving modest mitigation efforts, and a third in which emissions continue unabated.\r\n\r\nThey placed the findings on a smart map using technology called a geographic information system (GIS), with a time-lapse tool that shows how conditions will fluctuate in the years ahead. The result is a fascinating look at a foreboding future\u2014and a planning map for business leaders.\r\n\r\nThe below animation reveals how the GIS-powered smart maps work. If humans enact strong mitigation efforts to stem climate change, cities and countries around the world will see these impacts through the year 2095:"},{"acf_fc_layout":"youtube","youtube_video_url":"https:\/\/youtu.be\/Vu8X-Gj4L2U"},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"Under a business-as-usual scenario, they will face decidedly worse outcomes. This animation shows those results:"},{"acf_fc_layout":"youtube","youtube_video_url":"https:\/\/youtu.be\/o5dBHhH4wIM"},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"Dr. Mora and team have <a href=\"https:\/\/apl.esri.com\/MoraLab\/CumulativeChange\/index.html\">published the GIS app<\/a> for business executives and individuals to explore. By zooming into the smart map, an executive can see how climate change will affect specific locations around the world. (The data is based on 10-kilometer blocks, so it\u2019s not recommended for hyperlocal planning.) The time bar reveals how those effects will change year to year over the next eight decades.\r\n\r\nThe team\u2019s results were published in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41558-018-0315-6\">the journal <em>Nature Climate Change<\/em><\/a>."},{"acf_fc_layout":"quote","image":226142,"text":"Senior business executives are accustomed to consulting data before making strategic decisions. As they choose where to take on new suppliers or which markets to develop, a quantitative view of climate change offers significant planning value.","author_name":"","author_profession_organization":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"<strong>The Upshot\u2014Business Planning with Foresight <\/strong>\r\n\r\nWith a multidecade view of future hazards, global business leaders will be better prepared to make decisions across a range of business functions. They may reconsider adding suppliers to the production chain if these are located in an area subject to intense climate change effects. They may weigh how insurance costs will increase on a factory located close to a weather hot spot. Or they could use this location intelligence to develop new products or services for customers in the path of severe events."},{"acf_fc_layout":"sidebar","layout":"standard","image_reference":null,"image_reference_figure":"","spotlight_image":null,"section_title":"","spotlight_name":"","position":"Right","content":"<strong>Charting an Alternate Route<\/strong>\r\n\r\nEven companies that have built fortunes on fossil fuels\u2014which contribute significantly to climate change\u2014are beginning to plan alternative paths. Royal Dutch Shell, for example, has responded to pressure from investors by announcing that it will <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2018\/12\/03\/business\/shell-climate-change-executive-pay\/index.html\">tie executive compensation to carbon reduction goals<\/a> beginning in 2020.","snippet":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"In short, the University of Hawaii\u2019s GIS-based smart maps give global business leaders two vital resources:\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li>An understanding of the risks their supply chains, operations, and customers face in coming decades<\/li>\r\n \t<li>A reminder that if business proceeds as usual, few places on earth\u2014and thus few business operations\u2014will be spared the deleterious effects of climate change<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\nAs PwC notes in its CEO Survey, climate change will affect every sector of the economy. For executives who take the long view, the University of Hawaii app brings the effects into sharp focus. Businesses, governments, and citizens will decide whether the location intelligence at the heart of these smart maps is a reliable prediction, or the warning that spurs us to rewrite an ominous forecast."}],"references":null},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v25.9 (Yoast SEO v25.9) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>NextTech: How to See Climate Change on Smart Maps with GIS<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"How will climate change impact specific areas of the world in the decades to come? Location intelligence and GIS technology reveal the answer.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/publications\/wherenext\/nexttech-climate-change\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"NextTech: Smart Maps Show Executives the Impact of Climate Change\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"How will climate change impact specific areas of the world in the decades to come? 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